Kenton County, KY Hotels & Lodging: Transient Occupancy Tax (2026)

County Code § 34.10 continues and imposes a base transient room tax of 3% of the rent charged for every occupancy of a suite, room, cabin, lodging, campsite, or other accommodation furnished by a hotel, motel, inn, tourist camp, campground, or recreational vehicle park, or arranged by any person who brokers or coordinates such rentals, across Boone, Campbell and Kenton Counties. § 34.11 layers on a special transient room tax of an additional 1% of the same rent, and § 34.22 imposes a further additional transient room tax of 1%, bringing the combined county rate to 5%.

All three taxes are paid monthly to the Treasurer of the Northern Kentucky Convention and Visitors Commission, which the code names as the collecting authority under each section. Anyone who facilitates the rental by brokering, coordinating, or otherwise arranging accommodations in the tri-county area is jointly liable for the tax under § 34.14. Under § 34.12, the taxpayer must file a return on the Commission's form within 20 days after the end of each calendar month, reporting the rent charged and paying the transient room tax and special transient room tax due for that month within the same 20-day window.

Revenue from the special and additional taxes is earmarked: § 34.15 and § 34.24 direct special-tax proceeds to Convention Center operating expenses, while § 34.23 and § 34.24 direct the additional 1% first to Convention Center expansion costs, bonds and indebtedness, then to regional tourism promotion once the expansion is funded or repaid, consistent with KRS 91A.390(6).